Political Office

Supervisor (Don R.) Roth and his self-designated "campaign law expert" attorney Dana Reed must think there are two sets of rules--one for Roth and one for everybody else. How else could there be so many incidents of failure by Roth to disclose acceptance of gifts and loans from those who benefit financially from his influence and support on the Board of Supervisors? Roth is a political hangover from the days when being "wined and dined" and accepting numerous freebies from vested interests went with the job. Well, those days changed in 1974 when California enacted the Political Reform Act to clean up such political practices.

Re "Asian Americans Scarce in U.S. Corridors of Power," Oct. 21: Why aren't there more Asian Americans in political power? The answer goes beyond the theory of perceived "division of loyalties." It's actually much simpler--our appearance. It's obvious when one is of Asian descent. Unlike the Kissingers and Brzezinskis, it's pretty tough to hide one's "otherness" in white America. As a Chinese American who lived in largely white communities for years, I always felt different, even though I experienced little overt racism.

Although the next statewide election is nearly two years away, some groups are already lining up behind candidates who may face tough political battles. Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose) has locked up early endorsements from President Obama and others in an effort to stifle a potential challenge from fellow Democrat Ro Khanna. And Emily's List, a national group that promotes women to run for political office, announced its backing of Atty. Gen Kamala Harris' reelection bid and Betty Yee, who is running for state controller.

NEW DELHI -- Some 20 political prisoners were released in Myanmar on Friday, just days before a a historic summit between the country's leader and President Obama in Washington, officials and prisoner rights groups said. President Thein Sein will be the first leader of Myanmar to visit Washington since 1966. In November, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Myanmar . Zaw Htay, a senior official in Thein Sein's office, said on social media that the prisoner release was not timed to next week's visit but instead showed that the president was determined to offer an “inclusive political process.

Thrusting an intelligent idealist into a leadership position is a time-honored method of chronicling the corruptive nature of power, particularly the political variety. (Please see "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington") In recent years, television writers have done a bit of narrative multi-tasking by making that person a woman--in the U.S. it was "Commander in Chief," in the U.K., "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard. " For Denmark, in case you were wondering, it's "Borgen," a political drama that's caused a stir for the past several years among American critics seeking to prove that such shows need not devolve into soap, sentiment or satire.

Re "D.A.'s Race Creates an Office Civil War," Feb. 17: The allegations against Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas are more than "little improprieties," as some political consultant described them. The district attorney's office is more than just some political office. It carries the greatest moral and ethical burden to protect and prosecute all people equally under the law. Rackauckas' actions have struck at the ethical core of the district attorney's responsibility by extending favoritism and protection to his political cronies to the detriment and cost of the people he is sworn to protect.

Frederick Dutton's article is the latest in a series of commentaries that treats the denial of the vice-presidential slot to Jesse Jackson as fundamentally an issue of race. Obviously the racial factor is there. But it cuts both ways, not only because of Jackson's support among blacks but because the use of the racial argument so often obfuscates the other, more fundamental issues. Dutton's article is instructive because of how casually he deals with those other issues. Take his example of, "What if Rep. Pat Schroeder . . . had actually run" and finished second.

KABC-TV's conservative commentator Bruce Herschensohn ran for the Republican nomination to the Senate in 1986, lost, and is now back on the air. His liberal counterpart, Bill Press, quit Channel 7 last November to run for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. And just this month, the station hired Rose Bird, former chief justice of the California Supreme Court, to replace Press. Lisa Specht, the station's legal reporter, ran--unsuccessfully--for Los Angeles city attorney in 1985.

Addressing Pete Rose, Dan Engler of Santa Barbara remarked in Tom FitzGerald's San Francisco Chronicle column: "Your admission that you've been lying to the American people for the past 14 years [about betting on baseball games] shouldn't make you eligible for the Hall of Fame, Pete. But it does make you more than qualified to run for political office."